


Super Rich Kids

by wondergirlinwonderland



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, M/M, Major Original Character(s), Multi, will tag more relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2018-08-17 12:16:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 18,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8143688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wondergirlinwonderland/pseuds/wondergirlinwonderland
Summary: Being the sole guardian to your siblings at 19 isn't easy. Realizing they're spoiled brats doesn't help. Fed up with their attitudes, Seto makes them learn what it's like in the real world, make them survive off more than just the Kaiba name. He won't be getting any #1 Bro mugs for this, but in the end, he knows it's the right thing to do. (AU, eventual Puppyshipping & others)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is an AU fic. It will include mentions/possibly descriptions of abuse, both het and slash relationships, altered ages, people/families living in Domino that normally wouldn't, a female OC, edited family history, and people having their own bodies that didn't (Atem, Yami Bakura, and Noah. No, not Yami Marik because I don't think of him as his own person, sorry to those who like him.) It also completely ignores that rule about students not having jobs that I think is mentioned in the manga/original Japanese because basically everyone will have jobs. If you can handle all of that or at least want to give it a chance, please proceed.
> 
> Atem, Bakura, Ishizu, Seto – 19
> 
> Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Ryou, Marik, Duke, Téa, Naomi - 17
> 
> Serenity, Noah - 16
> 
> Rebecca, Mokuba -14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you guys seen that reddit thing that was like, 'the moment filthy rich kids realize they're filthy rich'? I saw it a short while ago and one comment was from a mother about when she realized she'd accidentally spoiled her kids rotten and made them do things like volunteer and visit the less fortunate, and so on. That inspired this because I can just imagine Seto, with all the Kaiba money in the world but not all the time in the world, accidentally letting Mokuba (and in this case because it's AU, Noah and a sister) become spoiled and he doesn't like it. Yes, this has an OC, I couldn't help myself. I hope y'all don't hate her but I just had this thought out in my head and I couldn't shake her. I know it can be really hard to make an OC that's related to a main character but please, give her a chance. Also, I did want to include a little backstory on Noah's mother because the dub basically ignored her?

" _Mr. Kaiba, are the rumors about you proposing to Ishizu true?"_

Was it too much to ask for a day of peace?

" _Mr. Kaiba, who do you think vandalized your father's grave?"_

One day. That's all he wanted. Also, it was his stepfather's grave, thank you very much.

" _Mr. Kaiba, your sister was seen on the back of a motorcycle with an unidentified male. Do you have a comment?"_

Yeah, the comment being that if the reporter had even half a brain in his head he'd have identified the male and realized it wasn't even half as good of a story as he seemed to think it was.

He got to his car without sparing a word to the reporters, thanking his driver with a nod for opening the door to the back. He let his head fall against the leather seats and let out a deep breath.

He hated the press. While he understood people doing what they could for a living, he never understood _tabloid_ press. He had very precise answers to their questions (no, he hadn't proposed and he wasn't about to; anyone could have vandalized Gozaburo's grave because no one liked him; his sister was best friends with Ishizu's openly gay brother and no matter how much Seto would try, nothing stopped Naomi from going on that damn bike) but the fact was it wasn't their business – nor was it the business of thousands of their readers who put his family under a microscope.

Clearly, he didn't have enough stress in his life at only nineteen years old. Running a multibillion dollar company basically by himself and turning it into what it was and now that his stepmother had passed away, taking care of three younger siblings wasn't enough; no, he had to deal with tabloids.

"Are we picking up Ms. Ishtar?" the driver asked when he got into the front seat and Seto held back a groan. He'd forgotten what day it was; every Friday was family dinner night with Ishizu and her brothers as well as the Kaibas.

"Yes, we are," he answered finally, and as the limo pulled away, he pulled out his phone to let her know they were on their way.

When they arrived, Ishizu came out looking as beautiful as ever, but Seto didn't have it on his mind to tell her that. She didn't seem insulted, instead just greeted him and shifted over a bit to let her older brother in as well. They rode in silence, but a few times Seto caught his girlfriend's eyes and knew he'd have to explain everything on his mind when they were alone together.

Arriving back at the Kaiba mansion, he held back the sigh as he put his briefcase down by the door and walked around to find his siblings. He told Ishizu and Odion to make themselves comfortable, but he had a feeling they knew to anyway and were only waiting to be polite.

His first trip was down the hall to the game room, where he found his two younger brothers playing video games. The television was going so loud that the car crashes in the racing game sounded like they were happening in real life, in the mansion. "Guys," he started, but they hadn't heard him come in at all. "Guys!" Still nothing.

Seto sighed to himself. He hated to be _that_ guardian but he had no choice. He walked in front of the television, making them pause. He held up his hand to silence the jumbled protests and the two fell quiet.

"We have guests, and it is almost dinner time. Time to stop playing."

The two boys rolled their eyes and got up. "Do we really need to have this dinner _every_ week? It's boring," Noah whined, sounding more like twelve than his actual age of sixteen.

"At this point, the Ishtars aren't even guests. They're practically family."

"Haven't you heard, Mokuba? Seto's proposing, it's all over the news. They _are_ family."

Seto gently bopped Noah on the back of his head as the two younger teenagers laughed. "Stop making such a mess in here. You're going to attract bugs."

"Not if Diona does her job right," Mokuba replied with a shrug. Seto grimaced at the tone of his voice, shaking his head.

"Where's our sister?"

The other two looked at each other before looking around innocently. Or at least, Seto assumed they were trying to look innocent. Maybe they were aiming for _'pretending to look innocent but really looking mischievous as hell'_ because that was what they were achieving.

"I swear to god, if she's not in this house," he growled. This was not the day for his siblings to be testing his patience. He marched out of the game room after Mokuba and Noah, stomping up the main stairs.

"Seto? Are you okay?"

He didn't stop to answer his girlfriend's question, finding his way to the room he was looking for. He tried the knob first, but seeing as it was locked, he knocked a couple of times.

"Uh…" The voice on the other side of the door was definitely not his sister's, but he knew whose it was. "Who is it?"

"Marik, open the door. It's time for the dinner."

"Oh, okay, well, Naomi and I are a little busy right now. So we'll be down soon."

Seto took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "Or, you can open the door right now."

"Well, we're naked right now. Trying on clothes and things."

"Marik. Open this door."

"Nope, too naked."

"Naomi isn't in there, is she?"

"Of course she is!"

"Then let her say something to me."

There was a moment of silence before a falsetto voice piped up, "Hi, Seto. Be down soon!"

"Marik, open this damn door!" There was a sigh on the other end of the door before the lock clicked and it swung open. "You should really work on your imitation of her if you're going to try that. Where is she?"

"I don't know."

"Marik…"

"I swear on Ra. I don't know where she is."

"She's with _him_ , isn't she?"

Marik didn't say anything, but the grimace on his face gave him away. Seto shook his head, pulling his phone out from his pocket and dialing his sister's number. The ringtone began to go off right outside the window and Seto walked over to it, looking at the ladder that he had no idea had been against the window.

His sister looked up, and he was sure he saw her deer in the headlights look. He watched as she lifted the phone to her ear. "Hi, Seto. What'cha doing up in my room?"

He raised an eyebrow at the blue-haired figure below. "Waiting to ground you. Would it be easier if you just came around to the front door?"

"Probably," she answered with a nod, moving away from the ladder and making her way to the front of the mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way I'm going to set this up is that every chapter goes by with another member of the Kaiba family as the focus, in age order. Seto, Naomi, Noah, Mokuba, and then the fifth one is going to be a flashback. I have a lot of good ideas for this so I really hope you guys like it! For those who've read my other stuff, I talk often about how much I love the Kaiba family dynamic and Noah and I just really wanted to write something like this. Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. I was going to wait to post this for me to have 1-5 written, but I was too anxious...


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I uploaded chapter one a while ago, I was actually half done this chapter when I did that but then my life got really busy. I’m sorry! If you didn’t catch this in my last AN, I’m going to be writing this fic in a pattern (Seto, Naomi, Noah, Mokuba, then a flashback, repeat) so this one is focused a little more on my OC.

Naomi Kaiba liked to think she and her older stepbrother had always gotten along fine. She’d looked up to him, liked spending time with him, and when she was younger, having an older brother had been amazing. She felt protected and cared about.

When said older brother suddenly became her guardian, things weren’t so easy anymore. Seto was under constant stress in making KaibaCorp. transition from a military company to a gaming company. If anyone asked her, he didn’t have the patience to deal with both the incompetent idiots at work and handle keeping a family together.

But no one asked her and to avoid having to possibly be split up due to like, foster rules or something, she didn’t exactly volunteer that information. She wasn’t even sure how that worked. All she knew was he stepped up to keep them together, and she wasn’t about to mess that up by complaining.

If you asked her, though, she would also say that she was _not_ the problem child of the family. Mokuba liked to rebel, Noah just plain never listened to Seto, and Seto himself wasn’t all that good with rules and restrictions for the three of them.

Case and point: the fact that it was _Friday night,_ she was getting home _before_ the dinner between the Kaibas and Ishtars began, and she was _still_ being punished.

A month of no going out. It could have been worse, but she absolutely did not think a month was appropriate at all. Naturally, she spent the first course of dinner explaining so.

“It doesn’t even make sense. If the dinner starts at 7:30, we should have until 7:30 to get back home. We should not be locked home like prisoners from the moment school is out until 7:30. We’re teenagers! It’s a Friday night! We have lives, you know. Not all of us became stuffy business suits when we turned sixteen.”

“Do you really think insulting him is the best way to get him to ease up on your punishment?” Marik leaned close and whispered in her ear under the guise of reaching for the iced tea.

“Not that you’re stuffy, or anything, I just mean that not all of us have jobs that we need to focus on and we can enjoy going out on weekends. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks you keep us under a bit of a strict lock and key. Am I right, Ishizu?”

Her brother’s girlfriend looked up, eyes flicking between Naomi and Seto. “I don’t think I should get involved,” she answered calmly, going back to her meal immediately after.

“So much for girls sticking together,” she mumbled. “Marik, back me up here.”

“I’m already banned from the house other than these dinners for the next month. I’m not saying anything.”

“Seriously? Noah? Mokuba?”

Her younger brothers just shrugged, looking like they enjoyed this way too much. They probably thought it was fun watching her dig her grave deeper. She wasn’t sure how, but she tucked it into the back of her mind that she needed to get them back somehow. She’d figure it out. Later.

“Okay, you all suck. The point, Seto is that I have a life, I have a boyfriend and friends. Wait, that’s it. It’s because you hate Jagger and his family.”

“My dislike for your idiot boyfriend isn’t a factor. You broke the rules and now you’re being punished.”

“But it was a dumb rule!”

“Enough, Naomi.” It was rare Seto would raise his voice at any of the three of them, so Naomi knew well enough to leave it be when he did. Even Mokuba and Noah knew to wipe the _cat who ate the canary_ grins off their faces.

When the staff cleaned off their plates and began to set them for the main course, the table was almost eerily quiet.

Quiet to the point where you could hear the clicking of nails against a phone screen and the occasional buzz.

Also, you could hear a very frustrated, deep breathing from the person next to the one doing said clicking.

“No phones at the table,” Seto said through gritted teeth as he reached under it to grab the phone from his sister’s hand. He stood up, holding his other hand out towards his brothers, who both hesitantly handed theirs over as well, despite not having been using them, maneuvering around the staff who was setting chicken in front of most of the table, save for Marik, who was a vegetarian.

As he turned to put them on the nearest shelf, next to an old family portrait from when they were kids, Naomi mumbled into the bite of chicken she was cutting. “Hypocrite.”

Seto glared when he turned back around, but his sister didn’t know if he didn’t hear or was just letting that one go. It was unlikely, but there was a chance it would come up again later.

There was quiet again for a few minutes until Ishizu tried to break the tension with a simple question, that turned out to be not to simple.

“So, how was school?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I’m doing that thing I do where I add in GX characters because clearly I have a problem and need to do it all the time. If you’re wondering, yes, you’re supposed to think Naomi’s an annoying, spoiled brat, because that’s part of the whole plot, that the younger Kaibas all are. Next chapter is focused more on Noah, who is also a brat. My favorite brat. Thank you all for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait to post this until I updated Legally Blond, but I finished this yesterday and I've had a terrible day today, so you get an update. I've said this on "Brothers, As In Plural" and "Legally Blonde" and I'll say it again – I love Noah! He's my little bratty boy. This focuses a little more on him but I think the fact that it's all still the same scene as the last chapter makes it where it isn't so obvious.

Noah Kaiba was a genius. Yes, it was cocky of him to describe himself as such, but it's not like he was the only one to say it. Other people told him that, too, and it isn't bragging when it's true.

That being said, school wasn't easy for him. Focusing was hard because he understood everything easily and would constantly find himself zoning out in class when the teachers continued to explain to the other kids, and homework…Well, he didn't like doing it. It bored him. So, he just didn't do it.

Therefore, the question currently brought up at the table was not one he felt like diving into.

"So, how was school?"

The moment the question was brought up, the four teenagers still in school mumbled out their own version of, "Fine," or "Okay."

A little dejected, Ishizu moved back to eating, but Odion either didn't realize how little the kids wanted to talk about school or didn't care. "Are you going to the Parent-Teacher conferences this week, Seto?"

"I have to see if I have time," Seto answered simply, not seeing his brothers roll their eyes.

"Which means he's probably sending Roland again, like last year," Mokuba popped up before popping an olive from the salad bowl into his mouth.

"Use your fork, would you?" Naomi chastised, making a face.

"You didn't go yourself last year?" Ishizu asked her boyfriend, brows furrowing together.

"Makes sense, he's not our parent," Noah sniped.

"Yeah, well in case you haven't noticed, we're a little low on those," Naomi answered back. She glanced over to Marik, as if just remembering that they, too, were orphans. "Sorry…"

"As if you'd want him going to your conferences anyway," Mokuba laughed.

"No, I don't, that's the point," Noah said with a roll of his eyes again. It was never a secret that he and Seto didn't get along. They had a strained relationship from childhood and it hadn't exactly gotten better since their father died and left the company to Seto. Their mother being gone didn't help either.

"Noah," Seto warned, but the warning didn't work as easily as when he'd said it to Naomi.

"He's the closest parental figure we've got," Mokuba answered, trying to keep the peace.

Noah wasn't letting up, though. "Yeah, and he's doing such a great job of it, delegating all parental responsibilities to our staff. A-plus parenting."

"Noah, stop," Naomi tried, but that didn't work either.

"This is ridiculous. This conversation, these dinners, this whole idea of a family right now is a farce," Noah continued. He threw his arms up at the end of the sentence, knocking into the pitcher of water one of their staff was beginning to pour, spilling it all over Mokuba.

His exclamation from the cold and the gasps of those around him melded together. Instead of apologizing, Noah turned to the staff member, one of their new butlers, who looked terrified. "Look what you've done! As if your job is really all that hard. Pour water without spilling it, what a hard concept. Must need special schooling for that!"

Seto had enough at this point. He stood up, slowly. His patience seemed thinner than usual today, or maybe everyone was just getting on his nerves more easily. "Enough." Everyone: family, guest, and staff alike, looked up at the towering figure at the head of the table. "Is everyone done eating?" The table nodded, and he gave a curt nod of his own. "Good. Mokuba, go get dried off. Noah, Naomi, up to your rooms. Now."

"Okay."

"But I didn't –"

"Dessert hasn't –"

" _Now_."

The three younger Kaiba siblings all got up, saying quick goodbyes to the Ishtars. Marik mumbled a quick, "Text me," to Naomi while Noah went stomping off to his room and Mokuba hurried to his to get in his own warm shower.

"This is bullshit. It's all Ishizu's fault for bringing up school. As if she doesn't know her boyfriend is the epitome of a deadbeat and he isn't even our dad."

"Because Father went to all our school things?" Naomi asked, crossing her arms. "You didn't have to go on a rant, No."

"I couldn't help it. I wasn't wrong."

"Yeah? Even when you said our family's a farce?" she asked, huffing as she turned and made her way through her door.

Noah sighed, looking over at Mokuba, whose long hair was still dripping cold water.

"You know I didn't mean it like that. We're not a farce. You're my brother."

"I know, Noah. I think those two were just pissed before dinner started."

"That's for sure. Whatever. Maybe we're grounded."

"As if you'll listen if we are," Mokuba replied with a grin. "I'm going to go shower. Back to our game after?"

"Definitely."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Odion. He didn't ask for a front-page ticket to Kaiba Family Drama, yet he's here because his sister is dating one of them and his brother is best friends with another. He's just here for the food. In all seriousness, next chapter is Mokuba and then the plot's probably going to start taking off. I'm deciding what flashback I want to post first.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the first chapter in Mokuba’s focus. I love him but I think this was the hardest so far. I also took a while on it. Again. I’m sorry. Finding time to write is getting harder and harder.

Mokuba came into Noah’s bedroom about a half of an hour later, changed into pajamas and toweling his hair dry. “Well, that was a disaster.”

“That was ridiculous.” Noah slid in his desk chair away from the computer and towards the bed where Mokuba had sat down, holding the towel in his lap.

“You know, I don't know why Seto insists on doing those dinners anymore anyway. They haven't been fun since…”

He trailed off and Noah raised an eyebrow. “You can say it, you know.” He had a distinct feeling he knew what Mokuba was thinking, that his little brother was thinking the same thing that he was.

Mokuba pursed his lips and looked at the wall ahead of him. “Since Mom died.”

The dinners had been their mom's idea to start with, and she had really felt a connection with Ishizu and her brothers. With their mom at the head of the table, it actually felt like a real family eating dinner together. Now it just felt forced. She'd died a year ago and everything got tense after that day, these dinners being no exception.

Noah, never any good at dealing with emotion and comfort, did his best by swapping his arm around Mokuba’s shoulder. They stayed like that for about a minute until a figure appeared in the doorway.

“Family meeting. Downstairs.”

The two younger brothers gave each other a confused look before getting up, following Seto to the door to their sister’s room. He knocked, getting a grumpy “Come in,” before opening the door and telling her the same thing as the other two, adding in for her to leave her phone in the room.

She put the phone on the nightstand, raising an eyebrow at her younger siblings behind Seto’s back as they walked. They both shrugged, indicating that they had no idea what was about to happen either.

The young family moved along quietly until they got to the living room. Seto stood in front of an armchair, motioning for the three of them to sit on the couch across from him.

“Surprised the family meeting isn’t in a boardroom,” Noah mumbled, receiving an elbow to the rib from Mokuba.

Seto looked at the three of them firmly as they shifted to get a little more comfortable, watching him expectantly. “I’ve been doing some thinking since Ishizu and her brothers left,” he started. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you three lately but I’m not liking what I see from you. You don’t listen, you’re rude, and none of you do anything to contribute to this house.”

None of them said anything, so he continued. “I’ve decided just grounding you all won’t work, so after this weekend, you’re going to do just that – contribute. I don’t think you realize how well off you three are, being who you are and getting what you get. In order to teach you to be grateful, I’m going to have to take some of it away.”

They looked at each other, confused. “What do you mean, Seto?” Mokuba asked.

“I mean the unlimited credit cards, the house staff, the chauffeurs. It’s about to stop. Maybe you’ll stop taking advantage of everything you have when you see what it’s like without it.”

There was a muffled chuckle, but when Mokuba turned his head, he couldn’t tell which of his stepsiblings had done it. They seemed to not believe Seto’s decision, threat, punishment, whatever it was that this would be called.

But looking at his older brother, Mokuba knew that he wasn’t bluffing, not even a little bit. He didn’t think they were _really_ that bad when it came to being spoiled or ungrateful, he’d certainly met a lot worse, but Seto seemed decisive. And once Seto made a decision, it was hard to deter him from it.

“I’m also going to the Parent-Teacher conference Monday,” he announced. “That is when this will all go into effect and your grades and performance at school may or may not help your case. I guess we’ll have to see.”

Mokuba looked from Seto to his other siblings. Noah looked like he wanted to roll his eyes into oblivion and Naomi was biting her lip to keep her smirk from taking over her face. He briefly wondered if it was worth it to join in the rebellion that was sure to take place if Seto actually went through with this. A united front was always a good idea, but going up against his big brother was a scary thought as well.

“Are there any objections?”

Noah scoffed, mumbling, “Like you’d care,” but it was barely heard over Naomi.

“Not at all, Seto. Whatever you think is right for us.” You could cut the thick sarcasm in her tone with a knife and the look the eldest Kaiba was giving her made it seem like he wanted to. She gave a smile holding out her arms. “Hug?” When he didn’t budge, she shrugged. “Well, if that’s all, I guess we’ll see you tomorrow. It’s late, and I think we’ve all had a long day!”

When Seto didn’t stop her from leaving, Noah and Mokuba joined her, catching up easily.

“Think he’s serious?” Noah asked.

“He better not be,” Naomi said with a shrug, glancing back to make sure Seto was out of hearing range.

“And if he is?” Mokuba asked, a little uncertainly.

“We’ll just have to fight back. Kaibas don’t give up, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked it. Thank you for reading! Next chapter: Flashback #1. Still deciding which one I want to do. Either a time when their mom was alive or right after her death.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First of the flashback chapters. Mentions death, takes place at Mrs. Kaiba's funeral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback number one! I don’t know how you guys are going to feel about these but I’m doing them because they’re going to be important to understanding the history of this universe and the family/friend dynamic. Also, I know everything in this fic says Seto’s 19 but I realized the fic is happening before his birthday so technically he’s going to be 19. As in, his birthday is takes place in the fic. Soon. I will write for his birthday. I promise. ALSO this chapter has hints of past Atem/Naomi which I knew I'd be referencing but I didn't think I would this early. But here we are. I hope you guys like this.

It must have been some sight at the funeral for Minori Kaiba for only one of her four children to be crying. Then again, most people who’d gone had also been at Gozaburo’s three years earlier, where none of the children cried, nor did Minori herself.

Showing emotion was a weakness and Kaibas weren’t weak. It was something drilled in them by Gozaburo for as long as any of them could remember. Old habits die hard. No pun intended.

Mokuba was doing his best to not be a loud crier, instead letting his tears form tracks down his cheeks while he focused his efforts on the soothing hand in his own. Noah had barely looked away from the casket in the front of the room, facial expression not betraying his emotions for a second. You almost didn’t even think to look at the white knuckled hold he had on his little brother’s hand.

Their sister, the only female of the family, was squished in the middle of a small couch. On one side of her was her boyfriend, Atem’s arm around her and her head laying on his shoulder. On the other was her best friend, Marik’s hand in hers. Occasionally, her eyes would water up, but then she would thank another stranger or business associate of her father or brother and her mask would go right back on.

Ishizu spoke in hushed tones to the eldest of the family, nodding at his request. They shared a chaste kiss before he walked off with some associates. Watching them, people might think Seto Kaiba and the group leaving the viewing room were there for a meeting instead of a mourning.

Ishizu went over to the two younger boys, giving them a gentle smile and motioning them to follow her. As they did, she came to the couch where Naomi sat. She was less willing to get up, taking a bit of convincing and a kiss on her forehead from Atem before she let go of Marik’s hand to join the others.

Ishizu led them out of the viewing room and down a small flight of stairs. There were plenty of people in the lounges who watched them go down to the empty basement. They passed the office where Seto and the others were having a discussion and stopped at an isolated lounge by the bathrooms. “Wait here.” She made her way into the bathroom.

The two boys sat down, glancing over at the closed door their brother was behind. “What do you think they’re discussing in there?” Noah asked.

“Probably what to do with us,” Mokuba answered. “That’s how it happened last time.”

The blue-haired siblings looked at him in surprise. He’d been young when his birth parents died, and they never brought it up before.

“I assumed it was all the inheritances,” Naomi said, plopping into a chair.

“Didn’t they get all that figured out already? When Father died?” Noah asked.

Naomi shrugged. “Seto’s officially head of the Kaiba family now. Pretty sure he has the power to just take everything.”

“He’s not going to do that,” Mokuba said, shaking his head and wiping his eyes.

“How do you know?” Noah raised an eyebrow.

“Because he loves us.”

“I’m sure you thought that about your other relatives before they dropped you at an orphanage.”

“Stop bickering, I could hear you from in there,” Ishizu scolded, coming out of the bathroom with tissues. She handed some to Naomi who blotted the smudges on her eyes and then knelt in front of Mokuba. “Your face is all red, Mokuba. How are you all holding up?”

For most people, that answer to three snarky teenagers would have been met with a sarcastic retort, but they all knew enough about the Ishtar family to know Ishizu had experience losing both her parents.

“Do you think Seto’s going to let us get sent to an orphanage?” Mokuba asked, eyes starting to water again.

“Of course not. Why would you think such a thing?” She answered. Mokuba’s shifty eyes in Noah’s direction gave her the answer she needed. “Well, it’s not true.”

Noah scoffed. “Yeah, well, maybe Mokuba’s safe, but that’s not guarantee for us.” Naomi didn’t answer, chewing on her lip. “We’re the family he didn’t want, so.”

“Noah, don’t say that,” Mokuba insisted.

“He may be right, Mokuba. Even if he does want all of us still, we don’t know if he’ll be allowed to keep us all at home.” Naomi sighed, looking at her younger brothers. She knew Seto enough to know he wasn’t about to throw her and Noah out on the street. But he was barely even eighteen at this point so there was a chance he might not be seen as fit to raise three other teenagers.

“Yeah. We might have to start learning the lyrics to ‘ _It’s A Hard Knock Life_ ,’” Noah said, standing up and kicking a chair.

“Noah, I understand your frustration, but you need to calm down. Seto won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’m not really one for blind faith, Ishizu. Sorry to burst your bubble.” He sighed, pulling away from Mokuba who was wiping his face with tissues and stomping up the stairs.

Seto looked out through the glass on the door, seeing his stepbrother leave the lounge. Ishizu went up after him, but neither Mokuba or Naomi made a move, so he figured they were asked to wait there until she got Noah back.

“Mr. Kaiba, what you’re asking is almost very improbable.” The voice of Nezbitt broke him out of his thoughts.

“But not impossible.” He turned back to the group of men, the Big Five as he called them, along with Roland. “Ishizu’s brother got hold of both her and Marik when their father died, and he was younger than me. Not blood related, either.”

“Egypt’s laws are different than ours, Mr. Kaiba,” Johnson pointed out and the teenager resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Did they think he was that stupid?

“I’m well aware, which is why I need your help to find how we can do this.”

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Yes, Crump, I’m positive. I’m not letting any of them fall through the cracks.”

“Raising kids is a lot of work, Mr. Kaiba. Are you sure you can handle it and the company?” Gansley asked. It really bugged Seto how often they spoke in turns when they were all together.

“They’re not exactly kids, Mokuba’s already thirteen. If Gozaburo can do this, lord knows I can.”

Leichter looked at the others before standing up. “Seto, your father –”

“Gozaburo.”

“Gozaburo had your mother.” There was no objection to calling Minori that, so he continued. “It’s not like he was all that…nurturing either. This is a demanding company, and if you want to focus on your siblings, I insist you delegate the company to us.”

Seto shook his head. “No. I’m not giving up my company and I’m not giving up my family, either. I’ll figure out the balance, I’m a fast learner.”

“Gozaburo would want –”

“In case you forgot, I didn’t really give a damn what Gozaburo wanted when he was alive. Why would I start now? I have a plan and you can all either help me with this plan or go find employment elsewhere. I don’t need subordinates ready to question me at every turn.”

“We’re not questioning you, Mr. Kaiba, simply trying to advise,” Gansley insisted. “We’re on your side.”

“Prove it. Get it done.” He nodded, turning back to the door and leaving.

Roland was right behind him. “You’re doing the right thing, Mr. Kaiba. Your mom would want it this way.”

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve got some good news and bad news for you all. The good news is, I wrote a blatant Puppyshipping scene for this fic. The bad news is, I have no idea how many chapters before I can actually post that. Yikes. I always do this to myself but for Legally Blond it worked out decently well. I’ve written other chapters/parts, too, revolving around the other three siblings, so…We’ll see. I am also working on the YGOTP challenge and might write a oneshot prequel to this because of one of the prompts. Next chapter we’re back to Seto and I look forward to writing that.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’ve completed one full cycle for this fic and now we start cycle two! In this chapter, Seto has to go to parent/teacher conference and gets stricter on the kiddos. I mostly based it off how my old schools used to do it so I’m sorry if it’s hard to follow or something. This chapter is like, double the length of the previous ones I’ve written so I hope you like it.

It simultaneously seemed like just yesterday and a lifetime ago that Seto Kaiba had walked through the halls of Domino High. He remembered every route, every room, every office, but it felt like he hadn’t been a high school student in at least a decade. In reality, it’d only been a couple of years.

He found his way to the office, impatiently waiting on the line. He chose to take time off his work day to get here for the early session, knowing night time would be even worse when most parents got off work. He wasn’t expecting the blond mop to be the one behind the desk.

“Good afternoon, can I have your na—Kaiba?”

“Well, clearly you already know my name.”

Joey rolled his eyes and his chair over to the file cabinets. Seto noticed there were four, with big letters on each drawer. He opened the K-O drawer for three of them, quickly pulling out a file from each before rolling back to the brunet. “Surprised you’re here. Last year, didn’t you send your bodyguard? Roman or something?”

“Roland.”

“Right. He terrified Plumber. Everyone still talks about it. It was legendary.” Joey laughed, writing out Seto’s full name on a visitor’s pass in black marker.

“What are you even doing here? Don’t you have class?”

“You forget how this works already? They let us out early.”

“So why aren’t you off with the rest of the Dweeb Patrol?” Not that he even cared. He didn’t know why he was asking. “Detention?”

Joey handed him the visitor’s pass before jotting down his name in a book along with the time. “Nah, this is completely voluntary,” he said with a grin. “I am getting extra credit for it though.” He blinked a couple of times before cocking his head to the side.

It reminded Seto of a golden retriever puppy.

“You know, you’re supposed to put that on your chest,” Joey explained, patting his right pec for extra clarity.

“I’m not putting it on this jacket.”

“Then I ain’t giving you the report cards.”

“Then I’ll just go see the teachers without them.” Seto shrugged, turning to leave.

“Yeah? You know who all three have?” And he stopped. The mutt had him there.

“This is stupid, Wheeler. The teachers know me, I just graduated.”

“The teachers know you but you don’t know them. If you did happen to know who taught your siblings, you could have gotten away with it,” he answered with a laugh. Seto glared, shrugging off his blue coat to reveal a black button up underneath. He begrudgingly stuck the visitor’s pass on his chest.

Neither of them realized how many people were getting off Joey’s line and going to the other student helper.

“Much better.” Joey would deny his eyes ever trailing over the millionaire’s body that he liked to hide under trench coats so often. “Here are the files for all three of them. There’s the report card, any write-ups, and there’s a sheet with the room numbers and everything.”

Seto put his coat back on. “Convenient.”

“Oh, and for the record, most of the group is helping out other teachers. That’s why we’re not out.”

“Great,” Seto deadpanned. He really didn’t want to have to deal with them. Dealing with one was more than enough to test his patience. Of course, that one just _had_ to be Wheeler. He began to walk away, ready to rip the name tag off his good shirt.

“Oh, Kaiba?” Wheeler called, and he turned to see him writing out the next parent’s name tag. “You could have asked them who their teachers were.” He smirked and Seto wanted to punch someone for not thinking of that first. Preferably the blond.

Instead, he just peeled the sticker off, still glaring at Wheeler and the boy burst into laughter. The sound followed him until he made his way towards the staircases.

When he got to a quiet spot, Seto compared the lists of teachers he needed to see to their corresponding rooms and made a quick game plan of who to see when. First on the list was the aforementioned Plumber in the gym.

Physical Education was almost no one’s favorite subject, but Plumber’s tough guy, no-nonsense persona didn’t make it any better. Typically, if you actually did something during class, he wouldn’t be too hard on you, but Seto learned early on that his school was full of kids who would do all they could to do as little as possible. At least, this was the case in physical education.

Plumber looked shocked to see Seto walk through his door, but quickly tried to hide it. “Mr. Kaiba. It’s been a while. Are you alone this afternoon?” Seto nodded as an answer and Plumber looked satisfied that the brute who practically interrogated him last semester wasn’t trailing behind him. “Please, have a seat.”

Seto did so, glancing around the gym and the memories of having to participate in team sports during the period a week he’d be in here flooded back. At least he’d had his closest friend and biggest rival in classes with him to make it interesting. Not to mention the way the school did PE was that often, they’d mix up students from different grades and their friends (okay, Atem’s friends, not his) would end up in the class as well.

He brought himself out of memoryland, making eye contact with the instructor. “I’ve noticed Mokuba is getting a very high grade.”

“Yes, he’s very enthusiastic. Always likes to be the team captains and involved in everything.” Plumber nodded and Seto tried not to beam with pride. “Your other siblings…” He took a breath and Seto held back on pushing him to hurry with his explanations. He was curious as to how his sister was getting a B- and Noah was avoiding grades with a simple “Pass” mark. “Naomi… when she’s here, she actually does what she’s supposed to. The issue is, she’s not always here.”

Seto kept the surprise off his face well enough. “I will have a talk with her about that. Can you explain Noah’s ‘Pass’ instead of a grade?”

Plumber looked confused at that. “Well, since his condition keeps him from participating, but he does attend class as he’s meant to, so I see no reason to fail him.”

“His… _condition_?”

Plumber opened the drawer of his desk, much smaller than most teachers had, and pulled out a folder. He shuffled through a pile of papers and pulled one out. “Yes, your mother, back when… anyway, she gave me this note. Handed it to me personally, she did, unlike a lot of letters I have to authenticate with kids, so many forgeries…”

He handed Seto the letter, and his blue eyes scanned it. He recognized the handwriting, almost like calligraphy, that belonged to his stepmother and remembered Noah whining like a child until she agreed to write him a note to excuse him from PE. He read the made up physical condition their mother claimed Noah had and bit back a laugh. She’d even gone so far as putting the contact information to their physician they had on call, most likely bribing him to just go along with the story if the teacher ever called to clarify.

“Right. How could I forget? Thank you for bringing that up, I meant to inform you that over the summer, we saw a specialist about this. He’s very much healthy now. He can participate this year, and in fact, it’s probably best if he does. Exercise is important to a healing body, isn’t it?”

Plumber listened, nodding. “Okay, are you sure he’s cleared?” At Seto’s curt nod, he grabbed a pen from his desk and wrote on the bottom of the letter. “Alright, then I just need your signature here, just in case I’m questioned, it’s easiest to prove his guardian agreed to this.”

Seto signed the paper, standing up after. He exchanged farewells with his old instructor and made his way to the other teachers.

The consensus on his siblings seemed to be as followed: Mokuba was a genius hard-worker who acted out a little too much (typically for a laugh, according to some instructors). Noah aced every test and didn’t skip class but getting him to hand in homework was like pulling teeth. Naomi was a decent student, but worse than her talent for certain subjects was her attendance and cell phone usage.

By the end of his trip around the school, Seto was exhausted. He didn’t tire easily, but parent/teacher conferences seemed to be such grueling work. The bane of his day was when he remembered that it happened three times a semester, and there were two semesters a year.

Maybe he’d find a reason to have Roland come back again next time. Screw the snarky comments from his siblings, when they eventually had kids and had to do these things, they’d understand.

Deciding that picturing the three of them as parents was a worse thought than them as irresponsible teenagers, he shook that out of his thoughts and began to make his way out through the crowds of parents beginning to line up behind doors. He was perfectly content with bowing out unnoticed, but he was not so lucky.

“Kaiba! Hey, Kaiba!”

He took a deep breath and turned to see Yugi waving at him from one of the doors on his right. It wasn’t that he so much _disliked_ Yugi; he just only liked him in small doses. But he felt that way about most people.

“I didn’t expect to see you here! Oh, you just came out of Gibson’s room? I’m in her class with Naomi.” Atem’s little brother was always a lot more upbeat and childlike than him, and Seto had a feeling Naomi wasn’t that close with him, despite being in his class.

Seto nodded. “Yes, and she was my last teacher I needed to see. Now, I’d love to stay and chat but –”

“Yugi! Hey, have you seen my dad?” The girl who ran up to them was one Seto didn’t immediately recognize. Her auburn hair and hazel eyes looked familiar, but it took a second to place them.

“Sorry, Serenity, I haven’t. I saw your mom before, but…”

She sighed softly, shaking her head. “Yeah, they split up so they could get through all of mine and Joey’s teachers…” There it was. She was Wheeler’s sister. Seto couldn’t believe that both their parents came to these things and split the work. Maybe he’d do that with Roland next time. “But she’s done seeing Joey’s and she doesn’t know where he went, and I just checked my classes…”

Her eyes widened when she noticed Seto. “Oh! I’m sorry. I’m being rude right now. Hi, I’m Serenity. You’re Seto Kaiba, right?” He nodded in response. “I’m in Noah’s computer class! He’s a big help, he explains _way_ better than our teacher.” She laughed lightly, but before Seto could think up a response, her eyes widened at something behind him.

He turned to see a middle-aged woman with curly, short brown hair pulling a miserable looking blond man behind her. The man in question could be described as an older, taller version of Joey Wheeler, with a beer gut.

“Serenity, I’ve found him. We’re finished, so it’s up to you if you’d like to come home with us now or wait for your brother.” She smiled kindly at him and Yugi. “It was nice to see you again, Yugi. Do thank your grandfather again for the invite over, we’ll have to see how our schedules line up.” She tilted her head at him, still smiling. “And who’s this?”

“This is our friend, Kaiba,” Yugi answered, and Seto had to bite his tongue to not object to the word _friend_. The implication to the Wheelers was that he was part of their son’s nerd herd and he just couldn’t have that.

“ _Kaiba_?” Mr. Wheeler asked, glancing at the KC on his collar.

“It’s nice to meet you. Now, we better get going, still need to finish other errands,” Mrs. Wheeler pulled her husband away a bit, clearly not wanting to cause a scene. “Serenity, are you coming?”

The girl nodded, saying goodbye to Seto and Yugi before skipping along after her parents. Seto looked at Yugi, who seemed unsure if he should say anything.

“I’ll be heading off, too,” Seto said with finality, walking towards the opposite staircase that the Wheelers had went down. He had a plan to put into action and a company to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Punishment goes into effect next chapter! We’ll see how Naomi deals with it first. Please leave your thoughts because I’d love to hear from you all! This may be the last update you get this month because my vacation is soon and then I start school again! I have so many ideas for this fic, I just need to keep....writing them. Did I mention yet that I have a very puppyship-filled scene written out already?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I've been able to write and I'm sorry. Hopping back into school has been more stressful than I thought and every time I try to write, words don't seem to flow. I'm currently writing a request as well, so if you have any, maybe send them? I think I'll accept a couple and hope it gets my juices flowing. Anyway, this one's back to Naomi's POV so I hope you guys enjoy it. Showing a little more of her and her life.

Naomi huffed as she checked her phone in class. It was the last class of the day, given that it was a half-day whenever parent-teacher conferences came around, and she'd made plans with one of her friends from another school.  

The blue-haired girl didn’t have many friends at Domino High; most of the people she did consider friends were more of the socialite standing who attended the private school in Domino City, Silver Valley Academy. It was the same school her boyfriend, Jagger Princeton, attended. For a long while, she never understood why her parents put her and her brothers into a public school, but their mom insisted that Domino was a good school and they needed to have an essence of normalcy.  

That being said, she did have a couple of acquaintances she went to school with, and of course, Marik. The acquaintances in question were mostly through said blond or through her ex-boyfriend, she didn't really see them outside school since she and Atem broke up. 

The constant messages weren't from her friend that was supposed to be picking her up, though. That she would understand and be fine with. No, they were instead from the aforementioned boyfriend who'd heard that the friend in question might have been getting a lift from her older brother who, according to Jagger, had an obvious thing for Naomi which made him not want to let her hang out with him. 

Naomi pointed out the fact that she'd only met the guy twice and it was no one's place to _let_ her hang out with anyone, thank you very much. Except that only bothered him more and now he wouldn't give her a second's piece. 

Marik shot her a questioning glance as she put her phone back in her bag, but she shrugged, waiting to explain until they got out of the classroom and went towards their lockers, thankfully pretty close together. 

“I really don’t understand why you’re even still with that jerk,” Marik grumbled, closing his locker. He looked at his best friend who no longer seemed as upset as she'd been in class, but he had a feeling she was just putting up a front. 

“Because, in the words of the great Queen Madonna,” Naomi began, taking her change of clothes from the locker, “’ _The boy with the cold hard cash is always Mr. Right._ ’” She winked, putting her textbooks where the bag of clothes used to be. 

Marik shook his head, rolling his eyes. “You are not going to be happy if you keep up that stance.” 

She answered with a small laugh. “Watch me,” she said, giving him a wink and shutting her locker. She walked away, singing under her breath. 

"Yeah, I am," she didn't hear him mumble.  

- 

"I can't believe he said he would do that. You don't think he actually is, right?" Mari asked, her brown eyes wide as they ate their lunch.  

Naomi laughed. "Mar, look at everything we just bought. Do you think he's taking away my cards and all that?" She motioned to the bags of goodies (clothes, makeup, and shoes mostly) that they'd aquired on this trip to the mall.  

"I mean, I guess that's true. Do you want dessert?" 

"No, I'm good. It's nearly skating time again, I've got to start practicing and eating better." Her friend nodded as she signaled the waiter to bring the check. She immediately handed her card over to him, packing up her bag. 

"Excuse me, Miss, you card was uh..." The waiter returned, looking awkward as he whispered, "declined." 

"It was what?" Naomi asked in shock. 

Mari leaned in and quietly repeated, "Declined." 

"I heard him, Mari, but that's impossible. It's an unlimited card. Try it again." 

"We did, Miss... Four times." 

Naomi shook her head, getting out another card. 

"Do you think Seto actua-" 

"Don't, Mari. He may have messed with that one card but he didn't touch the account. He can't." She handed the other card to the waiter and watched him walk off. 

"Are you sure? I mean, he is your guardian, and you're not of age..." 

She glared at her redheaded friend, who stopped talking. They sat in silence until the waiter came back, looking awkward still. 

"I'm sorry, but-" 

"Don't tell me. You can't be serious right now." 

"Naomi, don't fight it, this is starting to become a scene," Mari whispered, grabbing her purse and handing a card to the waiter, who scurried off to try it. "You did spend a lot today on our stuff, it's only right I get the tab for lunch anyway," she insisted. 

Naomi tucked her blue hair behind her ear, thinking of all the ways she wanted to strangle her older brother. "I'm going to need you to take me to the office," she announced, looking up at the other girl. 

"Oh, uh..." The waiter came back and handed Mari the receipt and her card back. "Well, it's just, this is a lot I'm charging and my dad gets the text alerts so he's going to want me home to explain as soon as possible." She smiled awkwardly, signing and putting in a tip amount. "I'm going to go look for my brother. You can get home on your own, right? Thank you for today." 

Before Naomi could answer, Mari was up, grabbing her bags as fast as possible. "Are you kidding me? I paid for our vacation to Bermuda. Marissa, you owe me." 

Mari shrugged, making a pained face and rushing out of there, leaving a very shocked Naomi behind. After a few minutes of sitting in stunned silence, she looked over at her bags and sighed, pulling out her phone. 

"Roland. I need you to come pick me up..." 

- 

"I don't care how busy he is, I'm going in." 

"Miss Kaiba, _please_." 

Naomi ignored the pleas of the secretary and barged into her brother's office. "Who the hell do you think you are? You had no right." 

Seto, ever the stoic jerk, didn't even look up from the paperwork he was reviewing, as if he expected this intrusion. "To what, exactly, are you referring?" 

"You took away my credit card!" 

"I did not take it away, I put a monthly limit on it. It is not my fault that you spent the entire month's limit on one shopping spree." 

"You didn't even tell me!" 

"I told you yesterday, and I told Noah and Mokuba the same thing. Notice they're not in here yelling at me." 

"They don't have friends to go out with! Of course they haven't noticed yet!" 

"Stop screaming already, Naomi, the dramatics are getting old now." 

"Dramatics? _Dramatics_? You take away my money, money you have much less of a business having control of than me, over what? A few bad grades? But I'm dramatic?" 

Seto took a breath and finally looked up at her. "Yes. You are. Taking away a child's allowance when they break the rules or don't keep up their grades is not a new concept, something you'd know if you hung out with anyone other than the spoiled nouveau riche." 

"My account is mine, Seto." 

"Actually, it's not yours until you turn eighteen, which isn't for a few more months." 

Naomi shook her head, slamming her hands on the desk. "Do you know how embarrassing it is to have a credit card declined, Seto?" 

"Maybe you'll think twice about spending on ridiculous things." 

"I was eating!" 

"Before you were eating, you visited three makeup stores, one shoe shop, and a total of five boutiques. Maybe you should have eaten first." 

Naomi stared at her brother. "What the hell am I supposed to do for money then?" 

"Chores will earn you some. Working will earn you the rest. I did tell you things were going to change." 

Seto went back to his work and Naomi huffed. 

"You know, when I look bad, you look bad. The Kaiba name reflects on all of us." 

"So do us all a favor and stop throwing tantrums in the KaibaCorp. building." 

"You'll regret this, Seto. I'm not sure how yet, but you will. I'll make sure of it." 

With that, Naomi strutted out of the office, not listening to see if her brother had a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I'd really love it if you guys let me know what you think. It's really encouraging when you do. Next chapter we're back to Noah and him figuring out the punishment, then Mokuba, then another flashback. I hope you guys are liking this story so far.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I'm back for a quick update. Thank you for reading and kudoing and everything. Please let me know what you think!

‘ _What if I fake break my leg? Then Seto can’t come to parent teacher conference!_ ’

Texting in class was against the rules, of course, but if you thought that ever stopped any teenager ever, you were wrong. Noah Kaiba was no exception.

‘ _No. Dumb idea._ ’

Neither was his little brother.

‘ _You’re right. I need to really break my leg._ ’

‘ _Dumber idea._ ’

Noah sighed, pouting as he looked at the board, pretending to pay attention to what his teacher was saying. Then his eyes lit up, and he typed out another message.

‘ _What if YOU broke your leg? He’d definitely skip conferences to take care of you._ ’

‘ _Noah, I am NOT breaking my leg._ ’

‘ _What if I break it for you?_ ’

‘ _Noah!_ ’

Okay, so maybe asking his little brother to break his leg to save his own hide wasn’t the best idea, but it was the only one he had so far.

_‘If you just did your homework like you’re supposed to, this wouldn’t even be an issue.’_

_‘Well, alright, goody two-shoes. Aren’t you worried about your review?’_

_‘Nah, teachers love me ;)’_

_‘When you’re not trying to be class clown.’_

“Hey, Noah,” the girl sitting next to him whispered, leaning over. Serenity Wheeler was a nice girl; one of the only kids in this school that didn’t annoy him to no end. The only issue was, she was terrible with computers. Noah had gotten used to helping her basically every class. “Did you catch what the last step was? I missed it.”

He looked at her screen, comparing it to the one in the front. “You have to click that drop-down menu, click that button. There you go.”

“Thank you so much,” she breathed, looking back up at the teacher to make sure she didn’t miss any other instructions. Noah looked at his own screen, so drastically far behind because he hadn’t paid any attention all class, and sighed. He quickly caught up, not needing to even listen to the teacher to get to where in the program the rest of the class was.

Computers were one of his specialties, though he liked to pride himself on how good he was at almost everything. Almost. The word sucked, but he could admit when he wasn’t good at something. Sports, for example. He was uncoordinated as hell and anyone who saw him with a ball knew that.

But he knew how to get away with not doing things he wasn’t good at. Why would anyone embarrass themselves like that? Especially for a grade in gym class. Luckily for him, his mother had been a very understanding woman and had written out a bullshit letter saying he couldn’t participate for some reason or other. It was his _get out of gym free_ card, and was meant to last through his whole high school career.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to figure out a way to get out of parent-teacher conferences, or in his case, brother-teacher conferences. He knew what the teachers were all going to say, “So much potential,” “Never does homework” “Zones out in class” blah blah blah.

Was it his fault that he was smarter than all his teachers? No. Maybe if he was in a better school, he’d have more of an attention span.

The bell rang and the teacher huffed. “Okay, everyone, save your work. We’ll pick up on this all next time.”

He did as he was told, shutting down the computer.

“Are you staying to help any teachers?”

It took Noah a minute to realize she was asking him. “Huh? Oh, no, I’m just going home. Need to prepare for the fallout.”

Serenity tilted her head. “Fallout from what? I doubt there’s anything bad on your report card. You’re a genius,” she said with a smile.

He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to politely argue or just thank her, so he elected to do neither. “How about you?”

“I’m helping Eggert for a bit, until my parents are done. Then they’re taking me home.”

“Eggert…?” The computers finished shutting down and he slung his bag over his shoulder, waiting for Serenity to walk out together.

“The music teacher,” she explained and he nodded. They realized they had to go opposite ways for their lockers when they each turned a different way. “I hope everything goes well for you. Good luck!”

He nodded. “Yeah, you too. Good luck,” he said, waving as she smiled at him. He made his way to his own locker, putting in the combination and moving most of his books into his locker. He didn’t exactly do homework anyway; what was the use in carrying around heavy books?

“Hey, twerp,” he heard before a hand reached out to ruffle his hair.

“Ugh, why are you so annoying?” he groaned, turning to his sister.

“Because it’s my job. Hey, cover for me, alright? I don’t know if I’ll be home by the time Seto gets back from work tonight.”

He rolled his eyes. “If I have to. But you owe me, then.”

“If you do it, I’ll owe you.” She winked at him and he shook his head. It occurred to him afterwards that he hadn’t asked where she was going, but then figured it best not to know. Less liability in lying; if he didn’t know, she could very well have been at Marik’s. If he knew she was out with Jagger or someone else, then he’d be lying.

Logic.

He was such a good brother sometimes.

He shut his locker and sighed. He really didn’t want to have to deal with tonight. It was bad enough Seto had seemed in an extra pissed off mood this weekend, this was going to just make it worse. He knew neither of his siblings were going to get perfect grades or performance reviews either, but he wasn’t sure if that would make Seto more lenient with the punishments (because it was all of them and not just Noah) or more fed up with them.

Figuring that he shouldn’t dwell on it more than he already was, he made his way out to the front of the school. He saw Naomi get in a car with two people, the head of red hair in the passenger seat being familiar as one of her friends but he couldn’t remember which one. He made his way to where his own ride was waiting for him, sighing as he opened his own door. “You’re supposed to open it for me,” he grumbled to the driver.

“My apologies, Mr. Kaiba,” the driver, whose name he didn’t know or care to know, replied.

He waited for a few more minutes before the driver got out, moving around to open the door again. In barreled Mokuba, laughing.

“You’re late.”

“You’re a Scrooge. Look what I got.” He held up a Duel Monsters card and Noah raised an eyebrow.

“Cyber Tutu? Why would you – no way. Alexis is going to kill you.”

Mokuba laughed again. “I didn’t take it! I won it fair and square. Though, I think tomorrow I’m going to challenge her again to win it back. Throw the duel, you know?” He shrugged and Noah rolled his eyes, slumping back in his chair as the limo began to move. Mokuba still hadn’t gotten up off the floor of the car. “It’s just a way to keep her attention a bit longer.”

“You have an odd way of flirting.”

“As if you’d know anything about flirting,” Mokuba shot back, kicking him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been having some block on my fics lately (I think it’s stress, to be honest) so I’ve kind of jumped around in this one to get my juices flowing. The only issue with that is that I have full scenes (mostly Puppyshipping) done and I need to focus more on my other little Kaiba babies (especially Mokie. Poor baby is getting the short end of the stick in my imagination) so I’m coming up with ideas here and there. I already know who I want Noah to be shipped with in this fic and I just hinted at who I’m putting with Mokuba, so. I hope you guys enjoyed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’m temporarily over my writer’s block. I’m updating mostly everything and I have a new idea I’ve started, too. I am so sorry for the wait, but I honestly just had no motivation and every distraction imaginable. But I’m finding time as best as I can and I’ll be hopefully writing a lot more. Thank you for your patience. Please leave me reviews!

If you asked him, Mokuba Kaiba would say he was the least dramatic of his siblings. Of course, the other three would probably say the same about themselves, but Mokuba actually was. For the most part. He was still just fourteen, after all.

He was a simple kid; all he wanted was a happy family, some good friends, to play games, make people laugh, get good grades, and have the most beautiful girl in school (in his opinion, and definitely the most beautiful girl in his grade) fall madly in love with him. Simple. Right?

But he was a Kaiba, and he’d learned early on that being a Kaiba meant that you were anything but simple.

Still, though, why did his siblings have to be so _extra_ all the time?

When Naomi came back to the mansion, stomping every which way and slamming each door she encountered, he did his best to not pay attention. She was dramatic on the daily anyway, and if this had anything to do with Jagger, he honestly didn’t care. The thought that it had anything to do with their older brother and actual family drama didn’t occur to him.

Instead of dwelling on it, he focused on finishing the homework that had been assigned, having Noah check it all over once he was done to catch any mistakes. It was a nightly thing, something Seto used to do before he took over the company. Nowadays, Seto was never home early enough to do it, and Naomi wasn’t the best student so that wasn’t an option.

“I think you’re good on the essay, but writing isn’t my forte. Give me the math.” Mokuba handed over the book. He wasn’t bad at it, he just knew his brothers were a lot better. He’d rather them catch the mistakes than get them wrong on the tests.

They heard another slam upstairs and Noah rolled his eyes. “I almost wish she was still out and I had to cover for her,” he mumbled, giving the book back to Mokuba. “You did the proofs wrong on numbers 3 and 4.”

Mokuba nodded, going back to the problems.

A minute later, Naomi came down, and the brothers did their best to ignore her.

“Is no one going to ask me what’s wrong?” she asked expectantly.

“Nope.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

“You two suck. I shouldn’t even tell you.”

“Then don’t,” Mokuba mumbled.

She heard and kicked his shin. “Well, it has to do with you two and Brother Dearest, but fine. I’ll let you learn for yourselves.” She walked away, leaving the two little brothers confused.

“Wait, what?” Noah asked.

Naomi stopped and turned around. “We have credit card limits now. Monthly. Apparently we’re expected to get jobs.”

“Jobs?”

“Like, with poor people?” Noah asked.

“Yeah, turns out Seto wasn’t bluffing after all. Or maybe he was, until he got our report cards. I don’t know. But my card got declined at lunch and it was embarrassing as shit. He didn’t even warn us properly.”

Noah grimaced. None of them ever had a card get declined. Never. And he’d bought some expensive tech before.

“Damn,” Mokuba said, dropping his head back onto the couch. “Where the hell are we supposed to work? We don’t have any life experience.”

“Beats me. Just figured I’d warn you both before the dark cloud gets home.” Their sister shrugged and left the living room, and Mokuba turned to Noah.

“Are we screwed?”

“We might be.”

* * *

Seto came home to find his siblings all waiting in the dining room for dinner. Naomi was texting, Noah was playing a video game, and Mokuba was still doing his homework.

“You haven’t eaten yet?” he asked.

“No. We’ve been waiting for like, an hour,” Noah answered.

“Where the hell is the staff? Did they screw up again and burn the food or something?” Mokuba groaned.

Seto stared at them for a minute. “The staff went home,” he answered after a moment of silence.

“What? Why?” Mokuba asked.

“I told them to. None of you noticed that you were home alone?”

“Why would you do that?” Noah asked as Mokuba answered, “No, not really.”

Seto took a deep breath. “This is part of the problem. You act as if they’re all silent background characters meant to be servants. They’re people. People who make your lives a lot easier and you don’t even see them. I’ve never once heard you mutter a _please_ or a _thank you_ , or even a _hello_. Do you know any of their names?”

“Roland.”

“Diona.”

“Uh, I think one might be Luke?” Mokuba bit his lip, trying to remember if he ever properly greeted any of their staff besides Roland. He couldn’t remember a time when he did, or when he asked them to do something instead of telling. How many of them had families? Lives of their own? He couldn’t even tell you if Diona was a Ms. or Mrs.

He looked around at his siblings; Noah and Naomi didn’t even look ashamed. Neither had even looked up from their devices as if they really could not care less. He supposed maybe they didn’t. He tried to reason that it was because they grew up with this stuff, and it’s not like Gozaburo was all that big on manners to those lesser than him.

But that was just it. Mokuba and Seto had been orphans. They knew what it was like to be lesser. And Minori had been sure not to let them get away with acting this way when she raised them on her own.

Yet Mokuba still became just as bad as the other two. Their mother had gone and it seemed like all she’d taught them went right into the grave with her.

“Is this part of the punishment, Seto?” Mokuba asked quietly.

“Yes, it is. I’ve said it before, you need to contribute to the house. They aren’t all fired, I’m just paying them to not be here.”

“That sounds like a waste of money,” Naomi mumbled.

“They’ll come back when I feel you deserve and appreciate them. Until then, you’ll learn to do your own chores.”

At this, the two blue haired siblings looked up at him. “Like what?” Naomi asked, making a face.

“Cooking. Cleaning your rooms. The bathrooms.”

“We have to clean _bathrooms_?”

“They’re your own!” Seto exclaimed. “You dirty the house, you clean the house. It’s not a hard concept.”

“But we don’t…know how to do that stuff,” Mokuba pointed out.

“Yeah, like, you’re basically asking us to burn down the mansion here,” Naomi agreed.

“You’ll learn.”

“So, are you going to be cleaning too, or are you taking up the role of Miss Hannigan?” Noah asked.

“You’re like, weirdly obsessed with that musical,” Mokuba said softly.

“You should be, it’s basically your life,” he hit back.

“Enough. Since none of you realized you didn’t have the chefs here, there’s no food. I’ll order something tonight but from now on you have a chore list and an allowance.” Seto sighed and walked out of the dining room, looking through his phone for a place to order food from.

“He didn’t answer the question,” Noami mumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be flashback number 2! I have an idea but if you have anything specific you’d like to see to help establish canon, please let me know! I’ll do my best to work in whatever answers you’d like to see.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS: This chapter mentions car accidents and a character in critical condition in a coma. I know that could make some people uncomfortable and trigger others, so I figured I’d give you all a warning.) So, I knew this was going to be a flashback I wanted (and let’s be honest, needed) to write eventually, but I wasn’t sure where I was going to put it. However, AO3 user Acts_of_Tekla (hi!) asked about it in the last chapter after I told you guys to tell me what you’d like to see, so I moved it up to here! I’ll talk more in the end notes, but for now, I hope you all enjoy seeing this: Mokuba and Seto’s introduction to the Kaiba family!

“I said, don’t ask questions,” Gozaburo hissed through his teeth. The dark haired five-year-old by his side whimpered and clung onto the hand of his older brother, who was studying the interaction between his new parents.

Minori had her eyebrows raised. She’d just shot off a good amount of questions – _who are they, why are they here, what do you mean you adopted them, why did you adopt them, Gozaburo answer my damn questions!_

But Gozaburo kept silent, growing aggravated. It wasn’t as though he could just tell his wife that the little brat had challenged him to a chess game and _won_. He was supposed to be the best, and the best does not lose and have to pay the price of adopting two orphans.

She sighed, shaking her head. She knew better than to push her husband. His temper with her was very rarely controlled, and she didn’t need to frighten these two boys more than they already probably were. She knelt slightly, to be at eye level with the elder boy.

“Hi there, I’m Gozaburo’s wife, Minori. I guess I’m going to be your mom now, but it’s okay if you’re not comfortable calling me that yet –”

“They will refer to us as Mother and Father. I will not be taking these kids into our home and letting them disrespect us,” Gozaburo barked.

Minori bit back a sigh. “What are your names?”

“I’m Seto, and this is Mokuba,” the elder answered. Mokuba had begun easing up on his grip of his hand, looking up at Minori, who smiled softly.

“It’s very nice to meet you two. Would you like to come inside? I’ll show you to your rooms and you can meet our other children, your new brother and sister.”

Seto looked at Mokuba, who looked confused. His little brother hadn’t known much about the man Seto had gotten to adopt them. Seto himself knew that he’d had kids, but knew nothing about them. Noticing his brother wasn’t speaking or moving, Seto looked back at Minori and nodded.

She held out her hand to him and with the one not held by Mokuba, Seto took it. Gozaburo huffed, not bothering to wait for them as he started walking ahead of them towards the towering doors of the mansion.

They had a lot to get used to.

“Naomi. Get in here!” Gozaburo called as soon as the door opened, his voice booming. Not even a half a minute later, a little girl came running into the foyer from the room adjacent, followed by a tired looking nanny.

Seto took in the girl before him. She was younger than him, he could tell, but not as young as his brother. Her deep blue hair matched her mother’s and her curious blue eyes watched the two strangers. She didn’t speak at all, glancing up at her parents as if for permission.

 “Naomi, I’d like you to meet Seto and Mokuba,” Minori started gently. “They’re going to be living here now.”

“Like Jackie?” the little girl asked, looking up at their nanny, a woman in her sixties at least.

“No, not like Jackie,” she answered. “Seto’s going to be your big brother now, and Mokuba’s your new little brother.”

Naomi looked at the two newcomers for a minute, taking in her mother’s words. When they finally settled, her eyes went wide and her lip quivered. Before anyone else could react, she ran off sobbing.

Gozaburo grunted. “I don’t have time for this. Go straighten out your little brat before I have to do it myself.” He walked off in the opposite direction.

Seto looked up at his new stepmother, who had her bottom lip between her teeth, playing with it nervously. She swallowed and looked at them. “Um, you could follow me, I guess.” Her voice was lower, softer than before, and her anxiety seemed to radiate with her words.

She began climbing the stairs and the two followed, until she realized where her daughter had run. “On second thought, it’s probably best if you wait out here.” They nodded, watching her enter the room to their right.

Minori sighed gently as she took in the sight of her daughter, kneeling with her face buried into the bed and sobbing. Her hand was grasping that of her brother, the unconscious little boy hooked up to an IV and monitors. She’d told her husband that Noah staying in the house in this condition would be hard on their daughter, but he’d shrugged her off.

“Mimi,” she started softly. “I think we need to talk. Why’d you run out of there?”

The little girl looked up, tears tracked down her face. “I don’t want new brothers! I want Noah to get better! Don’t replace him!”

Minori sighed to herself. She hadn’t thought that would be where Naomi’s mind went. She should have taken more consideration into her wording, given the state of Noah right now, but that would have been a lot easier if she hadn’t been ambushed by this rash decision as well.

“Naomi, we’re not replacing Noah.”

“But you said I had new brothers. I don’t want new brothers! I want the old one back!”

She thought for a minute before nodding. “Come outside with me for a minute and I can explain. To both you and the boys. Okay?”

Naomi looked like she was about to argue but nodded instead. She gave Noah’s hand a kiss before letting go, wiping her eyes as she walked around the bed to her mom. Minori knelt down, wiping the remnants of her tears from her face before giving her a kiss on the forehead. She took her daughter’s hand and led her outside.

Neither had noticed Seto peeking his head in to watch the scene, scrambling away when they were heading back out.

“What did you see, Seto?” Mokuba asked, but he just shushed his little brother before the two females came out.

“Okay, I think we need to try this again. Boys, this is my daughter, Naomi. She’s one of my two children who already live here. In this room, which you are not allowed to enter without permission from me or your father, is our son, Noah. Right now, Noah’s not feeling good, and she was wrongly under the impression that bringing you two in meant we were getting rid of Noah – which we are _not_.”

Seto could tell that Noah was a lot more than _not feeling good,_ but since they weren’t allowed in the room, he figured his stepmother was trying not to scare them by letting them know how bad it was.

“Now, Naomi. Seto and Mokuba are your brothers now, just like Noah is, okay?”

“But we’re sending them back when Noah’s better, right?”

“What? No, no we’re not.”

Naomi looked at them. “Then just him?” she asked, motioning to Mokuba.

“Naomi. You’re not getting this. We’re not sending anyone away, all four of you are going to be siblings and live here together.” Minori was a patient woman, but her eight-year-old was certainly trying her.

“But that’s too many boys! I don’t need two little brothers,” she huffed. “Can we make him into a sister instead?”

“Hey!” Mokuba finally spoke up, as Seto was about to step in to defend his little brother, but Minori spoke over them.

“Enough. No. You’ll grow to love your new brothers just as they are. No more talk of sending anyone back, okay?”

Naomi pouted. “Okay.”

“Good. Now, let me show you boys to your rooms and then you can play with Naomi.”

“No.” A stern voice spoke from behind them. They turned to look up at the patriarch of the house, towering over all of them. “Seto must begin lessons immediately to catch up to where he should be. He’s the oldest now, and that means responsibility. Show them to their rooms and then send him to the library. Mokuba can keep Naomi entertained.”

He walked away and Minori sighed. “Well, you all heard your father. We have the plan.” She began to walk away, showing the two newcomers their rooms before turning to Naomi. “I’m going to show Seto to the library so he doesn’t get lost. Be nice to Mokuba. I’ll have Jackie come watch you to make sure.”

Naomi nodded, watching her mom walk away. She then grabbed Mokuba’s arm, pulling him towards her room down the hall. “Come on! We can play dress up! You’ll be my new doll!”

“Wait, what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to make references to Noah’s accident in this fic and I think this is a good establishment. Thank you for reading! Please be sure to let me know what you think. It gives me a happy little pitter patter in my chest. Again, any questions you guys have about the canon in this fic, feel free to ask and either I’ll reply or establish it within a flashback. I’m going to try and relate the flashbacks to the current day chapters, if that makes sense. In the meantime, the next chapter will be up by July 17!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this before chapter 10 because I wasn’t confident in what I wanted the flashback to be when I started it. However, after the upload of chapter 10, I held out uploading this just so I could work on my other stuff for a bit but not be late on an update. I hope you enjoy.

Seto hadn’t realized how utterly dependent his siblings had become when he’d put his rules immediately into effect. He’d known, sure, hence the rules in the first place, but until he saw it up close, it hadn’t really hit him. He watched the three of them fumble around the next morning, Naomi pressing random buttons on the coffee maker before giving up. Mokuba was reading the directions on the pancake box before glancing up at the clock and deciding he had no time. It was almost humorous, if it hadn’t been so utterly pathetic and tragic.

He was about to leave for work when Noah’s voice piped up. “So, how exactly do you expect us to get to school? You left us without a driver and none of us can drive.”

That’s how they ended up with the four of them in one of Seto’s cars. He’d kept Roland on as his own assistant but to have them all be driven by him would go against the idea of the rules. He wasn’t sure that being driven by Seto himself was much better, but at least he was trying to set an example. He could be self-sufficient and drive himself to work.

Naomi’s head was lolling to the side, leaning against the passenger side window. Noah was in the back seat, sulking, and Mokuba was next to him, staring out the window.

“So, how are we doing this after today?” he asked, finally breaking the silence in the car.

“That part I’ll leave up to you. I’m sure you have friends, or learn to take public transportation.”

“You mean like _buses_?” Noah scoffed, raising his voice on the last word.

“Can you keep it down? It’s too early to hear your whiny voice,” Naomi groaned from the front.

“Take your own advice and shut it,” he hit back.

“Both of you shut up,” Seto said firmly. “Yes, like buses. It won’t kill you.”

“How do you know? What if we get mugged? We could be recognized and someone could try and rob us.”

“Too bad we’re broke now, there’d be nothing to rob,” Naomi replied.

“Well then, we’ll just get killed,” Noah started. “Seto probably wouldn’t even care.”

The car stopped short a block away from the school. “Enough. The two of you are acting like spoiled, obnoxious brats.” He didn’t lose his temper a lot with his siblings, but he was finding it hard not to. His grip on the steering wheel was so hard, his knuckles were white.

“We are spoiled, obnoxious brats,” Naomi bit back. “Isn’t that what this whole thing is about?”

“You are also ridiculously dramatic. You’re not going to get killed on a bus and you’re not fucking broke. Are the two of you really that entitled? You better pray you never have to learn what real hardship is like.” He unlocked the car doors. “Why can’t you just get over it? Look at Mokuba, he’s not even complaining.”

“Yeah, because he’s too afraid to speak up to you,” Naomi mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Good. Now get out. I’m sure you can walk a block without a bodyguard,” Seto said sarcastically.

The three of them got out and he waited until they were all on the sidewalk before speeding away. He knew he’d be getting some push back from them for this, but this was out of control.

He could almost hear his stepfather’s voice in his ear, going on about how you need to demand respect and all that. He wished he could, that much was true, but then he thought about the way Gozaburo used to ‘demand respect’ from them, from their mother.

No.

They’d learn, they would. Just not that way.

When he got into the office, he almost groaned at the number of messages Ishizu had apparently left him. He’d gotten in late because of his detour to the school, and she was used to him being there already. She must have thought he was ignoring her calls or something.

He listened to the messages, about her being worried and asking if he was alright, and all that jazz. He waited until he was cooled off from the confrontation with his siblings before he called her back, explaining everything. She didn’t give her opinion on his punishments for the younger teens. It was something he usually was thankful for. She had her own family and didn’t fully understand his, so she’d let him do things his way. She didn’t fight him on anything but she wasn’t openly supportive, either.

Right now, he wished she was. He turned down lunch, not up to seeing anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading. I know this one is short, but when things get juicier they’ll get longer. Please don’t forget to tell me in a comment/review how you’re feeling about the fic! Next chapter will be up by July 24.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty short chapter of Naomi starting to deal with the effects of the rules. Mostly inspired by how I get when I don’t get a coffee in the morning (haha, please laugh at my jokes). I also wanted to show her starting to interact with the group more, so they have a big part in this.

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to back us up every once in a while,” Naomi started as soon as Seto drove away, nudging Mokuba. “But no, you always have to be the perfect little brother. It’s obnoxious.” She didn’t wait for a response, power walking ahead of the other two. She made her way to her locker, her Resting Bitch Face in full swing.

“Someone looks like they got up on the wrong side of the bed,” Marik remarked when she got there.

“You have no idea.” She updated him on everything that happened since she’d left school yesterday, ending off with the fact that she needed a new way to and from school.

“I could pick you up and drop you off?” Marik suggested. “We just have to remember to bring the extra helmet. I don’t have it today, though.”

They sat down and she pulled him in for a hug. “Do I ever tell you how lucky I am to have you?”

He chuckled. “Honestly, no. But I know you are.” She giggled, quieting down as the math teacher walked in to begin the lesson. She didn’t even feel herself drifting off…

“Psst,” Marik whispered in his blue haired friend’s ear. “ _Psst_ ,” he hissed more harshly. When that still didn’t work, he shook her until she woke up.

“What? What’s happening?” She rubbed her eyes a little, looking around. Some of the group of friends she went to school with, those in her math class, were all looking at her strangely.

“Are you okay, Naomi? It’s not like you to fall asleep in class,” Yugi asked.

“Yeah, that’s usually more Joey’s thing,” Tristan joked, and the blond put him in a headlock in response.

Naomi’s eyes widened as it settled in where she was. “Shit, I fell asleep? Did the teacher notice? Where is she?”

“Relax, she stepped out because the computer had a glitch. She didn’t notice,” Marik responded. “I just figured now’s a good time to wake you before she does.”

“Thank you, I can’t believe I did that…”

“You didn’t answer though, are you alright?” Joey asked, finally releasing his taller friend.

“Yeah, I just have a headache, and I’m tired…” She knew exactly why this was happening when it never did before. She didn’t have any actual money on her and all her credit cards had been frozen, so she couldn’t buy herself a coffee at the café she usually went to. It sounded ridiculous to think about, but caffeine was a drug. She knew that much. Therefore, withdrawal was possible.

“Are you sure?” Marik asked, wrapping his arm around her. The fact that they’d seen so much of each other due to their siblings meant he was the closest to her. She liked him the best of the group; they always seemed to get along better than she did with anyone else.

“Yeah, it’s just because I couldn’t get a coffee this morning…” She shrugged and wondered if she should tell them. Marik already knew, seeing as she’d just confided everything before class, but she wasn’t sure if the others would make fun of her, and she was sure they’d tell the rest of the group as well. But they were all looking at her confused and she couldn’t help but _want_ to confide in them. “If I tell you guys something, promise you won’t laugh?”

They got serious at that, knowing she wasn’t usually one to share things that she might be embarrassed by. They nodded, and all five glanced to the door to make sure the teacher wasn’t coming back yet. She took a deep breath and quietly explained, making sure no one overheard. Thankfully, their classmates were all too wrapped up in their own conversations to notice.

“So yeah, I couldn’t afford coffee. Me. Naomi Kaiba. Could not afford a stinking cup of coffee this morning. This is pathetic and dehumanizing.”

Joey gave a small chuckle at her dramatization, covering it with a cough when she glared at him. “You know they have coffee in the student lounge, right? It’s free.”

“Free probably means it’s gross,” she replied, tucking a piece of her hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear.

“It’s not terrible. Probably not what you’re used to but it’s enough to keep you from falling asleep in class, and again – it’s free,” Joey replied with a shrug. He’d taken full advantage of the stuff they offered in the student lounge for years.

The teacher came back in and everyone scrambled back to their seats. For the five of them, that meant mostly away from each other, seeing as the teacher put them in alphabetical order. Naomi struggled to keep herself focused on the lecture, never before realizing how brutally boring math was.

Halfway through the class, she felt her phone buzz in her bag by her feet. She carefully moved to take it out, putting in her password and opening the message.

_‘They also have muffins and bagels if you get there early enough.’_

She smiled softly and turned to catch Joey’s eye, giving him a thumbs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naomi is so mean to poor Mokie. It’s okay, I think they’re going to get better (wink wink) eventually. Anyway, I already know where all three of them are going to work so I need to write that. Also, if any of you would like to see a picture of Naomi, I did one of those ‘make your own avatar’ things and made her, so I’ll upload it to my Tumblr. Next update will be on or before July 31.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter ended up being longer than I thought it would, but I’m glad. I think Noah and Mokuba deserve longer chapters. Anyway, I’ve added in another friendship moment with Serenity and Noah and another one of my favorite characters makes an appearance. Sorry for the wait for anyone reading my other fics, I've had family issues happening on both sides so I've been so preoccupied that I haven't had a chance to write much.

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to back us up every once in a while,” Naomi started as soon as Seto drove away, nudging Mokuba. Noah hid a wince. “But no, you always have to be the perfect little brother. It’s obnoxious.”

He was torn between standing up to his sister and keeping out of her wrath, but she power walked away from them before he had a chance to do either.

“Well, that went well,” Mokuba grumbled, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. “Didn’t realize I was that obnoxious,” he deadpanned.

“She has a bit of a point,” Noah said quietly, rolling his eyes at the scoff his stepbrother gave him. “We did say we’d stick together and fight back if he did this, and you’ve been quietly accepting it.”

“I know we said that, but come on, Noah. You don’t think he’s at least a little right?”

“Not at all.” Noah didn’t catch the eye roll Mokuba gave, but the younger of the two was quiet after that. They walked into the school, ready to go their separate ways for their lockers.

When Mokuba finally spoke up, Noah wasn’t sure if he was thankful or annoyed at the change of subject. “Hey, if I find a way home, I’ll let you know, okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Same here, thanks.” Not that Noah had any idea how to secure a way home. He didn’t like to think about it, but he really didn’t have _friends_. Not that he’d ever tried making friends, he just never saw a point. It’s not like he liked hanging out after school and he spent most of his lunches in the computer lab. Funny enough, thinking on that fact, he probably could have gotten most of his homework done easily in that time, yet he never did…

He sat down in his calculus class, a class usually reserved for seniors and only a few juniors such as himself. He knew his sister wasn’t even in calculus, not every senior was. But she was a lot worse at school than he was, though he began to wonder how her report card actually looked. Seto hadn’t even brought them up yesterday after the fight at the table.

He started scrolling through his phone, groaning when he heard an all-too familiar voice filter in. “Grandpa was so impressed with my report card and all the amazing things the teachers had to say.” He rolled his eyes. Was there ever a moment Rebecca Hawkins didn’t brag? “He took me for ice cream and I might even get a new computer.”

Rebecca was the most frustrating classmate Noah could have ever had. She was whiny, stuck up, and such a know-it-all. The worst part was that due to their last names being close and there not being many kids in their class, she was sat right next to him.

“Are you even old enough to have your own email account?” he snarked when she sat down. He had a feeling the seniors she’d been bragging to didn’t care enough to be rude.

He did have to hand it to her – she was a genius. She was Mokuba’s age and half the classes she was taking were filled with juniors or in this case, even seniors. She’d be impressive if she wasn’t so damn annoying.

“You’re just jealous because your grades probably sucked,” she answered, doing her best to flip her hair. It was long enough, sure, but she insisted on keeping them in pigtails. “And I’m younger than you and smarter than you.”

He let out a short, sarcastic laugh. “Even if that were true, which it’s not, I don’t think I could ever be jealous of someone who used to bring a teddy bear to Duel Monsters competitions.”

Her eyes widened. “Shut up! That was years ago, I was 9!”

“Still too old to carry around a ted— _Ow_!”

She stomped on his foot to silence him, crossing her arms and huffing. He was about to reply when the teacher walked in, ready to start the lesson. ‘I’ll get her back for that,’ he thought to himself.

The rest of his day passed uneventfully. Soon enough, it was time for computer class. He actually did his best not to zone out again, but he couldn’t help it. He was brought back with a tap on the shoulder from Serenity. “Hey, I’m sorry but how –”

He showed her what she needed to do and she smiled. “I’m sorry I’m so bad at this stuff.”

“You don’t need to apologize, it’s fine.” He followed the steps himself and then looked over at Serenity again. He knew enough about their family to know they certainly didn’t have enough money for chauffeurs. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

She turned back to him from the screen in front and nodded. “Of course. Anything.”

He felt a little bad for distracting her when he knew she was so lost in this subject, but he figured either way, he’d end up helping her catch up. “How do you and your brother get to school?”

She furrowed her eyebrows, probably wondering why that was being asked. He didn’t blame her. “Oh, um, usually the bus. Sometimes my mom or dad will drop us off. Rarely, Joey gets to drive, we only have one car.” She shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just, I help you a lot in class, you know?”

“You do! I don’t know what I’d do without you.” The student on the other side of them shushed Serenity and she blushed.

“Well, I need a favor from you now.”

“Okay, name it.”

She was so nice. Genuinely nice. He wasn’t used to that. “Can you,” he dropped his voice. “Can you teach me how to use the bus?”

She cocked her head, and the movement paired with wide eyes almost reminded him of a puppy. Not that he’d say that out loud. He knew enough about whatever animosity existed between their brothers to stay far away from that comparison.

“Okay.”

“Thank you, Serenity. And uh, don’t mention this to anyone else, I guess?”

“No problem at all. Anything for a friend.” She smiled and looked back at the screen. “Oops…what did I miss now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, things are heating up between the siblings, as you can see. Can you believe Noah actually asked someone for help? Serenity thinks they’re friends but he thought he didn’t have any, aw! I was going to go further in this but it did get long so I’m ending it there and picking up on the next Noah chapter. I think I figured out my Mokuba drama so I’m happy with that! Next up is a chapter about him. Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit longer than the others (a teensy bit longer than the last) and it’s about Mokuba. This is the first time I’ve written him at school as opposed to just with his siblings, so I hope you all enjoy. I made him friends with the GX characters because I needed to make people his own age.

Mokuba glared as he watched his only sister stomp away from him and Noah. He rubbed his arm where he’d been nudged before adjusting his bag and grumbling out, “Well, that went well. Didn’t realize I was that obnoxious.”

For as long as he could remember, Naomi and him never really saw eye to eye. The memory of his adoption was always etched into his brain, where she’d been more than ready to send him back to the orphanage. True, she’d been what, eight? But it’d been nearly a decade and the designated Ice Princess still hadn’t warmed up to him.

“She has a bit of a point,” he heard from next to him and he scoffed at Noah’s response. “We did say we’d stick together and fight back if he did this, and you’ve been quietly accepting it.”

Okay, so that was true. They’d said that (or rather, Naomi had said that and Mokuba hadn’t gone against it) but that was before Seto made all those good points.

“I know we said that, but come on, Noah. You don’t think he’s at least a little right?”

“Not at all.”

Mokuba rolled his eyes, not bothering to respond. He could hear Naomi’s words in his head – _We have to fight back. Kaibas don’t give up_ – but he wasn’t so sure. She, Noah, and Seto were all so stubborn, he didn’t really see this ending in peace for the three of them. But he saw both sides and just wanted to do what he was asked so it could be over. The sooner they ‘learned their lesson’ or whatever, the sooner Seto would let things go back to normal, right?

But he knew his stepsiblings weren’t going to go along with that. They were both probably scheming their next rebellion already.

Maybe he wasn’t meant to be a Kaiba…

He was lost in his thoughts when they entered the school, until he realized he was following Noah to his locker but his was in another corridor. He looked at his brother and decided to just speak up. “Hey, if I find a way home, I’ll let you know, okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Same here, thanks.”

Mokuba nodded, satisfied with the answer. Noah wasn’t mad at him – if he was, he’d have been less civil. At least he had that on his side.

He found his locker and began putting away his textbooks, keeping only the one he needed for his French class. Learning foreign languages was fun, and something he could actually see himself using once he joined his brothers at the company, so he was actually taking more than one. The only thing he hated was that French was his first class of the day. It was too early to even learn in his own language, he really didn’t want to have to switch his brain into French first thing in the morning.

The school day went more or less normal for Mokuba; he did his work with less than the usual amount of goofing off, but he figured everyone thought it was a result of his teachers telling his brother about that. That wasn’t exactly wrong, but he didn’t want to have to explain the details. He was doing fine blending in until lunch time.

“Alright, Mokuba. It’s time for me to win my card back,” Alexis declared, situating herself across the lunch table from him. He blinked for a minute – it seemed a lot longer than since just yesterday he’d challenged her and won her favorite card. Things were easier back then. You know. Yesterday.

“Right, uh. Here.” He dug in his bag and slipped out a book he’d been reading, handing her the card.

She narrowed her eyes in disbelief. “That’s it? You’re not going to make me duel for it?”

“Nah, not really in the mood. Maybe tomorrow we will and I’ll see if I can win it again.”

Alexis blinked. “Well, alright then. In that case, I’m going to get lunch now.” She stood back up, and headed towards the line. Her two friends whose names Mokuba still confused (which one was Jasmine and which one was Mindy?) looked confused as well, but they followed her towards the line, grabbing trays.

When they were no longer in earshot, he got a nudge from beside him. “Dude, what’s up? Since when are you not in the mood to duel?” Jaden asked, oblivious to the slight glare the other boy was giving him. Not that he knew it, but the brunet had just nudged into the exact spot Naomi had.

He shrugged in response. “Just had a rough review yesterday at the conference.” He didn’t need to go into detail. That’s all they had to know.

“I figured as much when you were quiet in class today,” Syrus replied. “Was it really that bad?”

Deciding he really didn’t want to discuss it, he changed the subject. “Hey, how do you all get to school?”

“My brother drives me,” Syrus answered easily.

“I take the bus,” Jaden answered, shrugging.

Mokuba bit the inside of his lip, thinking. “Do you think I could carpool with you?” he finally asked. “And maybe my brother, too?”

“Well, sure, but you don’t need permission to ride the bus,” Jaden said with a laugh.

“I’m pretty sure he meant me, Jay,” Syrus stated. “I’d have to ask my brother, hold on.” He took out his phone, typing out a message as the girls came back with their food.

“Ask your brother what?” one of the girls asked.

“If Mokuba could – oof!”

Mokuba figured the elbow to the ribs that Jaden just received was proper payback for the nudge. “Nothing. So, has anyone started the reading for our Lit assignment?”

They got to talking about that for a little bit. He almost didn’t notice the subtle tap on his arm, but he turned to look at Syrus, who slid his phone under the table for Mokuba to read. It was from Zane.

‘ _Yeah, sure._ ’

Realizing that Sy had figured out that he didn’t want the girls knowing he needed a ride, for whatever reason, he was suddenly extra thankful for his friend. He smiled gratefully before pulling out his own phone, sending off a message to his own older brother.

‘ _Got a ride. Zane & Sy Truesdale._’

He didn’t have to wait long for a response.

‘ _Think I’m gonna just take the bus._ ’

‘ _You sure?_ ’

‘ _Yeah, Serenity said she’d show me how._ ’

Mokuba almost shrugged, until he realized how weird that would look, shrugging at his phone. Thinking about it, he knew Noah was weird with cars. He only ever seemed okay if he was in the backseat, driven by either their chauffer or Seto, and he never looked out the window.

Planning to ask him about it later when they got home, as well as how the bus was, Mokuba didn’t push it. Later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m debating adding anymore GX characters in or not. I don’t want them to overpower the story. I think the only ones who will show up who haven’t been mentioned yet are Chazz, Slade, and Atticus, because they make sense since their siblings are already involved in the story. I’ve actually been torn between making Chazz a rival for Alexis’ affections or just making my Rivalshipping heart happy by putting him with Jaden. Hm…


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my oh my oh my god I am SO sorry. I have had so many things going on in my life and I cannot believe I’ve gotten no writing done. Ever since school started this year, I have been swamped. I’m still swamped. It’s the final few weeks and I don’t even know how I managed to find time for this. It’s not long and probably not as good as the other ones have been but I hope you guys like it.

“I don’t understand,” Noah spoke, blinking up at his mother. Minori bit her lip, wondering how best to explain this to her son. Her poor, beautiful son who’d just woken up from a coma.

It had only been a couple of days since Seto and Mokuba’s adoption and while Naomi was warming up to them (at least seemingly), Noah had just woken up a few hours back.

When his mother didn’t respond for another few moments, Noah spoke again. “Did Father…want a new heir?” he asked softly. “Just in case…?”

Her eyes widened and Minori shook her head. She couldn’t believe that’s where both of her natural born children’s minds had gone. Both her son and daughter thought the new members of the family were replacements.

She wished so hard she could tell him honestly that that was not the case at all. However, it was difficult to explain what had gone on in her husband’s mind considering he hadn’t let her know what had gone on. She had tried to get an answer out of Gozaburo but she knew better than to keep pushing and make him angry.

“Because if he did, I’m all better now. They can go away now.”

Minori raised her eyebrows. It was curious just how alike Noah and his sister thought, sometimes. “Sweetie, no. They weren’t brought here to replace anyone. They’re here as additions, to make our family bigger and better.”

“I thought Father said our family was already the best.”

Of course he did. “The best means better than everything else,” she tried explaining – heaven knows, trying to tell her children their family wasn’t the best when their father was telling them they were would not have been a good idea. “That doesn’t mean there’s still not room for improvement.”

Noah was quiet for a minute, and Minori tried to think of a good addition to help further her point. But she didn’t have to. Her son was a quick learner. “Like how KaibaCorp. is the best, but they always build new stuff and create new programs.”

“Exactly,” she answered, though it wasn’t posed as a question. “Seto and Mokuba are really great kids, Noah. They’re sweet, gifted, intelligent. You’ll like them.” She smoothed down some of his blue hair, a few shades lighter than hers. Hers had been that light as a child, but by his age had darkened to that of Naomi. She wondered if Noah’s ever would. “Now you get something you hadn’t had before: brothers, and you get an older one and a younger one.”

Noah tilted his head at his mother. “What’s that going to be like? Having brothers?”

“Well, you’ll have more of a protector now,” she began, knowing how protective Seto was over Mokuba. “And you’ll have someone to protect as well. That’ll be nice, won’t it? Having someone to look up to and someone else to look after.”

Noah let it sink in for a minute and smiled. “Yeah, I’d be a good big brother.”

Minori smiled gently at her son, cupping his cheek. “I think you are going to be an amazing big brother.” She kissed his forehead softly and pulled away. “Are you up for having more visitors? I know your sister’s been waiting to see you, and you need to meet your brothers.”

Noah looked off at the wall for a minute, thinking. “Is Father around? Has he been waiting to see me, too?”

His mother was an expert at faking her smile at this point, a fact she was glad her children didn’t know yet. Making sure it didn’t fall from her lips, she answered, “He has been waiting for you to wake up, of course, but he couldn’t stay in the house. I’m sure you understand, he had to go to the company. He’ll be back soon, I think.”

Noah’s face fell for a moment, but it was brief. She didn’t know what hurt her more: her children’s constant disappointment in their father or the fact that they were learning so young not to let that show. “I understand,” he said, but something in his tone of voice said otherwise. “Then yeah, I wanna – I want to see Naomi. And then my new brothers.”

Minori nodded, giving her son another kiss on the head before getting up. “I’ll let her in first and give you two a minute,” she decided. Her children were each other’s best friends, out of choice and necessity because they really didn’t have social lives, so she knew they’d be eager for some alone time.

She got up and made her way to the door, she was stopped by another question.

“Mom? If one of my brothers is older now, do I still get the company when we’re of age?”

Her heart dropped, and she didn’t know how to answer. Because she didn’t know the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re still reading this, thank you so much for your patience. I have not given up on any of my stories, I just need to find the time to be able to write. Between school and work and trying to have a social life, I’m drowning. Thank you for reading. Please comment/review and let me know you’re still here and what you think.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again – none of my fics are dead. I’m just trying to find extra time to write them. These next few chapters are a bit short, but I’m getting somewhere. Just be patient. Thank you all for your patience and kindness. I adore all my readers.

Seto always did his best to keep Gozaburo’s influence out of his business and his home. It wasn’t easy; the Kaiba Empire had been forged by his stepfather’s ruthlessness and callous, up to and including the family. The oldest child in the family had always known Gozaburo loved himself and his power more than he could ever love any of them – four loyal children, one devoted wife – but he’d kept a legacy alive for them.

True, his legacy was all about violence and death. It wasn’t easy for Seto to change it to what it was now, but he’d at least had support from his stepmom. Minori had easily welcomed the idea of changing KaibaCorp. to a gaming company instead of a damn military arms dealership and signing off on an amusement park inspired by Duel Monsters was the last thing she did as a shareholder of the company before her death.

Gozaburo had never truly seen his wife as a partner, as an equal, but Seto knew better. She had an influence on the legacy of the Kaiba Corporation and the Kaiba family as well. That was an influence he did try to keep alive – the charity, the family, the public face.

It’d have been a lot easier if they’d kept up her influence at home, too.

He sighed as he looked at the list of charities that Minori had either started or made regular donations to. Their annual benefit was coming up, and he had no idea how to plan this thing. It was something his mother had done every year, at the very least since he was adopted – probably before that. It was basically a party with a silent auction component. They invited a bunch of rich ‘friends’ to it, they got wine drunk, talked some business, bid on things and donated to charity.

This was their first year doing it without her, and they’d agreed to make it a memorial as well. As he looked over the list of charities and her old to-do lists they’d found lying around, he was convinced the woman was a saint. To do this every year, take care of four kids, and deal with Gozaburo on a daily basis.

Definitely a saint.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his office chair. He almost wished he could ask his sister to do the planning – she was damn good at planning events and doing all the PR work for the company – but he had a feeling asking any of his little siblings for a favor right now would not go over well. He had just granted her permission to continue figure skating practice despite her grounding, but he didn’t think that was enough pull to make her do this.

Right as he was debating if it was worth it to technically hire her, pay her, to do the planning he didn’t want to do, his intercom buzzed. “Mr. Kaiba, Ms. Ishtar is here to see you.”

He didn’t even open his eyes, feeling for the button. “Send her in.” He looked up only when he heard the door shut behind her.

“Working on anything in particular?” she asked. He raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend, trying to decipher if she actually cared or if she was just being polite.

After a moment of silence, he answered. “My mother’s benefit.”

“Oh.” She looked a bit surprised. “I didn’t think you’d do that personally.”

“I don’t trust any of the imbeciles in this building with something so…”

“Personal?”

“Important.”

Ishizu knew that to Seto, those words held the same weight in regards to this event. She nodded.

“Was there something you needed? You never show up unannounced.” She never did. She usually knew better.

“You sounded…off. On the phone. I just wanted to check on you, and talk in person.”

Seto wished there was something he could say to ease her mind, but instead he put up his walls. “I don’t need to be checked on.”

She was silent for a moment, not sure how to continue. It wasn’t the first time he shut her out when their family was having problems, but she hadn’t managed to break through yet. She tried a different approach. “We could use some help,” she started, “at the museum. You said you were asking the kids to get jobs. It’s decently easy stuff, I wouldn’t keep them after close. Maybe Naomi would like working with Marik and—”

“Naomi won’t want to work there,” he cut her off. She didn’t complain, just tilted her head. “Think of who else does.” Her lips formed an ‘o’ and she nodded. Feeling a bit bad for shutting down her idea, he continued, “But I’ll suggest it. Thank you for the offer.”

She nodded and sighed. “Seto, I’ve told you before, I’m here to talk to.”

He didn’t reply. She said it, yes, but something always felt like it was blocking them, and he didn’t know what it was or how to fix it.

Sometimes, he wasn’t sure he even wanted to fix it.

“Alright. You obviously don’t want to talk, so I’ll go. Don’t stay too late. You look exhausted and I know if you stay here, you’ll forget to eat – again.”

She turned and walked away, slowly, almost as if waiting to be called back. But she wasn’t, and then she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UGH. You know that feeling where you really care about someone but it’s just not working anymore? That’s what I’ve been trying to hint at with this relationship. Not trying to make anyone the bad guy, just them learning they don’t mesh anymore. I don’t want my babies to get hurt but it’s gotta happen. Okay, now this is the part where I ask you all for reviews/comments. Thank you if you do. If you don’t, thanks anyway for reading.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: abusive (emotionally/verbally) relationship. Feel free to skip if you can’t handle it. I didn’t mean for it to be bad, but then I started writing, and I know Jagger and Naomi’s problems will be talked about in other chapters. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write her next chapter about but then this happened. It started just as a point to her figure skating (part of the Ice Princess nickname) and then I ended up wanting to portray her relationship with Jagger before it eventually falls apart.

After a lot of begging and whining, Naomi had managed to edit the rules of her punishment. It was hard, seeing as she’d been grounded since before Seto went on his rampage about spoiled brats and self-sufficiency, but she’d managed to get one thing added that her brothers couldn’t.

In addition to school and work (which she still had to find a job, unfortunately) she was able to go to her practices for the ice skating competitions she did every year. Appealing to Seto’s own sense of competitiveness had worked as well as she’d thought it would.

“Not good enough. Again,” her coach barked at her in a thick accent.

She was almost wishing it hadn’t. “That landing was almost perfect,” she argued, skating closer to Coach Kim.

“Almost isn’t good enough. Almost only gets you second place,” Kim replied.

Naomi winced. She went from the very top when she was younger, but in her latest few competitions, she’d only been placing second. She needed that first-place trophy. She nodded to her coach and sighed, going back to her program and trying that jump again, repeating her words in her head. _Almost isn’t good enough._

 _You’re not good enough_ , the voice in her head eventually changed it to, after failing to perfectly stick her landing a couple more times.

After falling on her butt, she sighed, looking up at the disappointed face of her coach. She was distracted instead, by the figure in the stands behind her. “Okay, I’m going to take a break,” she announced.

Her coach groaned. “Breaks are for losers.” Naomi ignored her, getting up and skating in the direction of her boyfriend, who she hadn’t expected to show up. Kim followed her, calling out one of her other favorite lines to tell Naomi, “ _Boys are distraction_.”

She rolled her eyes, smiling as she got closer to Jagger. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

Jagger, however, was not smiling. Not even close. “I thought you were grounded.”

Naomi blinked. “If you thought I was grounded, how did you…”

“I tracked your phone.”

“Wait, you _what_?”

“Answer the question, Nom’.”

She thought for a minute, figuring out the question he hadn’t asked. “Seto made an exception for this. You know how he is with competition.”

Jagger hmphed and crossed his arms. “Leave. We’ll go back to my place and I’ll drive you home after. You can pretend you were here.”

Naomi shook her head. “I can’t just _leave_ ,” she insisted. “I need the practice. This is my last competition season, I need to win it this time.”

Jagger glared, and she swallowed hard. “Then when am I supposed to see you? I’m not allowed at the house, you’re not allowed out.”

His voice was raising, and she desperately thought of a way to placate him. “Look, Seto’s birthday is in a couple of weeks. He’s going to be out with his girlfriend, we can do something then. Date night, or you just come over for some fun…” she suggested.

Jagger thought it over for a moment but didn’t shoot it down. “And what’s this I hear about you being poor now?”

“What? Where did you hear that?” Naomi asked.

“Marissa told me.”

“Since when do you talk to Marissa? You don’t even like her?”

“Focus on the questions, Naomi,” he hissed, and she nearly flinched.

“I’m just saying, you don’t like when I talk to any other guys –”

“You talk to Marik.”

“He’s _gay_. So, if you’re talking to other girls –”

Jagger huffed, rolling his eyes. “You’re avoiding the question.”

“I’m not fucking poor!” she finally answered, regretting yelling as soon as the words left her mouth. “I-I’m just not able to access everything I used to. I have limits and I have to find a job. That’s it…”

Jagger’s glare wasn’t as intimidating as her brother’s or her father’s had been, but it was still one she hated. And she knew this was not getting forgotten about. “Don’t ever raise your voice to me like that again.” He turned, beginning to walk away.

“Wait, that’s it?” she asked, watching him go. “You’re not even going to drive me home?”

Jagger half turned, giving her a shrug. “I’ll drive you home in a couple of weeks,” he answered.

She scoffed, shaking her head.

“I don’t like him,” the accented voice behind her made Naomi jump.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Boys are a distraction,” she muttered.

“No. Well, yes. But he is just dickhole,” Kim elaborated. Naomi laughed, smiling up at her coach for so many years. “Now, come on. Stick this landing and I’ll drive you home.”

The teenager nodded, taking a deep breath and focusing. She could do this. She closed her eyes, pushing everything out of her mind – Jagger, Seto, even Kim – and jumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: I am all about relationship drama these couple of chapters. Whoops. This one was a bit short because I didn’t know what else to put after that ending. If you read it, please let me know how you’re feeling. I hope the trigger warning helped you prepare if you had to prepare. I don’t really know what to say other than that. Also, Coach Kim is going to have another appearance, I think. Next up, we’re back to Noah.


End file.
